Smoke alarms for 40,000 Homeswest properties

The Housing Minister Bill Marmion says he has directed his department to ensure that every HomesWest house is fitted with a smoke and power safety device.

About 40,000 public housing properties are required to have electricity cut-off switches and smoke alarms installed by late next year

But a report by the Auditor General found the program has been poorly managed and that the department has failed to keep accurate records.

Mr Marmion says he is disappointed with the findings and his department will improve its performance.

He says his department has sent letters to all HomesWest tenants to find out which homes have had the devices installed.

"Because we have 40,000 houses it's not possible for someone to quickly go and check all houses so the rapid response is to get 40,000 letters out first," he said.

"The auditor general's findings showed that he had no assurance that they were actually fitted in all our houses, so now I've asked the director general that that's not acceptable and we have to make sure that all our houses have the RCDs in them."